In the fifth chapter of Judges you will find this verse. "Then were the horse-hoofs broken by the
means of the prancings, the prancings of their mighty ones." And it seems likely from this, that
it was not the custom to shoe horses in those days, so that their hoofs were more easily broken.
They had horses in Egypt in very ancient times, as you will find if you read the first part of the
book of Exodus. You will see there how the children of Israel escaped from Egypt, after they
had been kept in hard bondage a great many years; and how when they had gone only a short
distance, the wicked king Pharaoh went after them to try to get them back. There was a great
company of the Israelites, men, women and children; they had nothing to ride on, and had their
flocks and herds with them, so that they could not go very fast. They took the course which God
directed, and it brought them to the Red Sea, where there were neither boats nor bridges for
them to go over.
Just then they heard that Pharaoh and his army were coming after them. Some came in chariots
of war, and of these there were six hundred drawn by horses; and a great many more came on
horseback. Now what could these people do? If they went on, they would be drowned; and if
they went back, or stayed where they were, they would fall into the hands of the Egyptians. God
told them not to be afraid, for he would take care of them; so he divided the waters of the sea,
and made a dry road for them to go through, while the water stood up like a wall on each side of
them. Then the Egyptians followed on, and God let the waters flow down upon them, so that
they were all drowned. Think what a sight it must have been, when the chariots, and horses, and
men, were all surrounded by that great, mighty water, and then sunk down one after another, so
that they could be seen no more. The children of Israel sang a psalm of praise after God had
saved them in this wonderful manner, and these words are a part of it: "Sing ye to the Lord, for
he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea."
In one of the last chapters in the Old Testament you will find these words, "In that day shall
there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD." This speaks of a time
which has not yet come, but for which christians are looking, when this world will not be wicked
as it now is; but when every thing, even the bells of the horses, shall be holy unto the Lord.
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